My favourite type of games to play are first person shooters. I enjoy playing other types of games as well, but I spend most of my time playing FPSs. If I were to program video games for a living (I'm working on a joint major in Computer Science and Applied Math, as well as a minor in Physics, so this seems like a practical career path to me) then my goal would be to work on a game like Call of Duty, Battlefield, or Crysis II (I haven't gotten Crysis II yet, but it looks promising).

How long would one need to work in the video game industry before they could work at a company that develops one of the games that I named? If I become a game developer then I would specialize in physics engine development (making my minor in physics quite useful).

I realize, of course, that I could come out of school and land a job with Epic Games working on the next Gears of War title, but I find this to be VERY unlikely.

Regards,

GuerillaTactiks

You could start by learning the UDK .
http://www.udk.com/download
It is the Unreal Development Kit, which helps you understand this huge engine.
Always a good start to learn something about how Games are made in the Industry.

Moving to Breaking In.

How long would one need to work in the video game industry before they could work at a company that develops one of the games that I named?

Probably 2 or 3 years.

You could start by learning the UDK .
http://www.udk.com/download
It is the Unreal Development Kit, which helps you understand this huge engine.
Always a good start to learn something about how Games are made in the Industry.

I've seen the Wikipedia page for Unreal Engine before. I'll make sure to check this out!


@[member="Tom Sloper"] - Sorry, I did look for a more appropriate forum. I guess I didn't see "Breaking into the Games Industry".